Broncos Earn Two State Berths at Westosha Sectional
Johnson and Newland Advance to State in Close XC Sectional Showdown
Union Grove, Wis - With the scent of cross country moms’ pumpkin spice lattes wafting through the air and the clomping of runners’ dads sprinting between course checkpoints, it was a near-perfect autumn day in Salem Lake’s Fox River Park, which hosted the WIAA Division 1 Section 7 cross country meet on October 24th. Under sunny skies and with temperatures hovering around 60 degrees, 10 girls’ teams and 12 boys’ teams met to run against each other and secure team and individual spots to take them to the state championship. Conditions were near perfect for running, and the Bronco Cross Country team represented themselves quite well, sending two runners to the WIAA State Boys and Girls Cross Country Championships.
As the girls’ race wrapped, it was neck and neck for the second spot, which would see the victor going to the state championship meet as a team. As the results tabulated, heartbreak emerged as the UG girls fell to Westosha Central by a mere 3 points and a team time trailing by just a tenth of a second. Top honors went to the Elkhorn Area girls, who saw defeat by the Bronco girls at conference. The Bronco girls' team was led by freshman Aila Johnson, who mustered a second-place overall finish, followed by freshmen Emma Schafer and Mila Johnson and senior Sam Antonneau clustered in 16th, 17th, and 18th places respectively. Sophomore Natalia Milicevic rounded out UG’s top five, with junior Aubrey Krueger right behind, finishing in tandem as 32nd and 33rd out of 73 runners. The meet found Karlie Peterson, a senior, closing out her time in high school cross country.
The Union Grove boys acquitted themselves nicely, and while it wasn’t quite the nail-biter the girls’ race turned out to be, the team found themselves in a 4th-place finish out of a field of 12 teams in the competition. The squad of four juniors lead the pack, with Parker Newland taking point and finishing in 7th place, with Abe Ackley, Ethan Ross, and Xander Stulo placing 22nd, 25th, and 26th out of 85 total runners. Freshman Jaxxon Silvasi capped the boys’ top five, with another freshman, Jameson Kaufman and sophomore Benjamin Thomason contributing to the boys’ effort. First place honors went to Kenosha Tremper, with Kenosha Indian Trail finishing in the second-place spot.
In addition to the top two boys' and girls' teams from each section moving on to state, the top five runners for boys and girls overall outside of the state qualifying teams also advance to the state meet. Aila Johnson, with her 2nd place finish overall for girls, finds her taking the 2nd individual spot to send her to state as a freshman. Parker Newland, coming in 7th overall for boys to slot him into the 3rd individual qualifier spot, good for a trip to the state championship meet as well.
The WIAA State Boys and Girls Cross Country Championships will be taking place on October 31st at The Ridges Golf Course in Wisconsin Rapids.
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